The story continues to spread…volunteers start joining our efforts for Windchill

02/14, 11:35pm: A long day for everyone but one that had some promise. Windchill is making more attempts to get up. He’s begun flexing his front legs and made 4 or 5 attempts to get up. He refuses to give up which means none of us will either. More people have called today, almost non-stop. We have more volunteers to help relieve us for the coming weekend – that’s a great thing. Windchill’s learning he kind of likes all this attention – if we’re out there and make the ‘mistake’ of tending to other chores, he calls to us, wanting someone to sit nearby so he can put his head in their lap. He continues to eat and drink steadily, though needs to be held up to drink if he’s not propped up on hay bales. We keep turning him onto his other side, a process he’s not terribly fond of but that must be done. Tonight an engineer called and volunteered to come help develop a lift utilizing our barn rafters. The science department of a high school is volunteering to come sit for some shifts with him – it appears Windchill will be getting some education during this downtime – maybe that will be a motivator for him to stand up before they give him any tests?

Time for me to go out for the last check of the night and give him his last drink for the evening. Though he sleeps much of the day, his attempts to stand drain him completely and he’ll sleep soundly til the 4am shift starts.